Business software allows for implementing business processes by modeling business data as business objects with data exchange between the objects. The business data provided via the business objects can be accessed through mechanisms such as graphical user interfaces, forms, and analytical reports. Traditionally, user interfaces provide access to information about the business objects themselves but conveyed limited information about the potential association between otherwise seemingly unrelated business objects. In industries, for example, such as fraud investigation where there is a need to determine relationships between business objects to prevent fraudulent business transactions, the inability to identify potential existing relationships creates a large void in the business software in protecting against fraud.
First, existing business software is restricted in the ability to both visualize business objects and analyze the relationships between the business objects in a graphical display. Such software is also restrictive in the ability to communicate with a backend server where the business objects are retrieved and visualize the business objects in graphical views, where relationships between the business objects may also be displayed and analyzed in the graphical view.
Second, existing business software is restricted in the ability to interpret the relationships between business objects without previously replicating and transforming their data and metadata to another database or data structures designated for the purpose. Disadvantages of such a replication and transformation process include the loss of real-time analysis capability due to the replication delay, the increased need for storage capacity for the replicated data, and the higher effort for maintaining the replication service.
Third, existing business software is restricted in the ability to abstract new business objects and relations from existing data. Defining new business objects and relations from existing ones is either not possible at all or requires adding code to the business software or modifying its resources. Such enhancements or modifications, where possible, are difficult and expensive due to the required technical expertise.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for a system for visualizing business objects from their original data stored in a backend system and rendered in a graphical view where the relationships between the business objects may be defined. There also remains a need in the art to integrate business objects in a graphical display to quickly identify the relationship between the business objects.